The end of the line for “Masterchef” contender Abimael “Bime” Cruz marked the start of his career in the food world working at the Stoneforge Tavern in Raynham.

The Taunton resident was eliminated from the reality television show that pits home cooks against each other in a pressure test round in which the a group of the home chefs were tasked with making a lemon meringue pie. Cruz accidentally mixed up the cream of tartar to make the merengue with the corn starch to thicken the lemon curd. His pie was so watery, judge/celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey poured the pie into two stemmed glasses for them to test.

Though it was fairly obvious from that point that the mistake would send him home, Cruz said in an interview last week that he would have been even more upset if the judges had sent someone else home. “It was heartbreaking to leave the show... but I made an epic mistake,” he said. “I knew I’d made the worst lemon meringue pie.”

Lemon meringue pie aside, the panel of judges — chefs Ramsey and Graham Elliot, and restaurateur Joe Bastianich — had high praise for most of the meals Cruz made during the competition.

Now that he’s back from his stint on the show, Cruz said he is “trying to keep his passion for cooking alive.” Working at the Stoneforge Tavern and Publick House for the past couple months has been almost as eye-opening an experience as the grueling competitions on the show, he said.

“Every day it’s like a pressure test, but you don’t get Ramsey yelling at you. This is insane too,” said Cruz.

Working on the kitchen line at the restaurant has also opened his eyes to all of the prep work that goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant kitchen long before the order slips start piling up.

“When you’re looking at the show you’re seeing me experience things for the first time. I’ve never had to make 101 steaks or so much chicken,” he said in reference to the competition on his last day on the show in which two teams were tasked with making fried chicken and a couple other dishes for the cast and crew of the television show “Glee.”

Now that he’s working in the real world of restaurants, Cruz said he sees the difference between the reality show and the realities of the culinary world. “When you see the process on the show we have 60 minutes of prep time. Here, we’re constantly prepping for the tavern and for functions at the Publick House,” he said.

Of his time on the show, which is still airing on Fox stations Wednesday nights, Cruz said he tried to focus on “what he was doing,” and not “playing the game” like some of the contestants.

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It was a maneuver by his team captain, Krissi Biasiello, that landed him in the final round pressure test that sent him home to Taunton and his daughters, Adiana, 10, Amaya, 8, and Ariel, 6.

“I feel good, and confident going forward. Two of the world’s best chefs and one of the best restaurateurs told me I had the potential to be great and they thought they’d (see) me being in the top five,” he said. “They expressed to me to not give up on my dreams and that made my passion to cook even stronger.”